ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at what has been found in terms of climate change, concentrating on the most recent geological period and into the instrumental record. As recently as the 1980s scientists became aware of the rapidity with which climate might change within the geological record. Changes in its surface position for whatever reason would result in a sudden decrease in temperatures and different precipitation distributions. The Little Ice Age is the first period in which instrumental observations can be used to measure climate change. The most publicized example of what appears to be a significant recent change in climate has occurred in the Sahel area of Africa. A more certain link between solar variations and long-term climate change has been established through the work of Milankovich, a Yugoslavian mathematician. Changes in surface features may have drastic effects on climate over rather shorter time periods than orography and ocean shape.
